Ashley Zhao's sister to remain in county custody

Zhao's parents Mingming Chen and Liang Zhao appeared Thursday in Stark County Family Court. The 911 call - from Liang Zhao - was made available, too.

By Ed Balint Repository staff writer

CANTON The older sister of the 5-year-old girl found dead in a Jackson Township restaurant will remain in foster care while a county agency evaluates if she can be placed with relatives.

The determination was made at an emergency custody hearing Thursday in Stark County Family Court. A day earlier, the hearing was postponed because of an issue involving an interpreter for Mingming (also listed as Ming Ming in court records) Chen, 29, who is charged with murder in the death of her 5-year-old daughter Ashley Zhao. The child's father, Liang Zhao, 34, is charged with complicity to murder. Both parents, who remain jailed on a $5 million bond, also are charged with felonious assault.

The interpreter who appeared in court Wednesday was not certified with the Ohio Supreme Court. But the proceeding went forward Thursday before Family Court Judge David Nist, who ruled the 6-year-old sibling would remain in temporary custody of Stark County Job and Family Services.

Jerry Coleman, assistant deputy director of legal services for Job and Family Services, said the agency continues to evaluate potential placement options with the girl's relatives. Criminal background checks and other reviews will be conducted, he said. Job and Family Services did not have prior involvement with Ashley's family, Coleman said.

911 Call:

The allegations

Jackson Township police allege Chen punched Ashley several times in the head, and that when Zhao found the child on the floor, he tried to clean her up before unsuccessfully attempting CPR. Police say the couple concealed the body somewhere inside Ang's Asian Cuisine restaurant at 4924 Portage St. NW.

The child was reported missing about 9:30 p.m. Monday from a back room at the restaurant. Investigators were told the child had gone to a back room to nap about 4:30 p.m. and, when Chen checked on her about 9 p.m., she was missing.

Police continued their search, with help from other law enforcement agencies, overnight and into the next day before they found Ashley's body Tuesday afternoon inside the restaurant. Ashley's mother and father were arrested and charged in her death Tuesday night.

After Thursday's proceeding, Liang Zhao's relatives were present outside the courtroom discussing the case with his attorney, Jacob Will. Chen is represented by an attorney with the Stark County Public Defender's Office.

The father is a naturalized U.S. citizen while the mother is not, according to authorities. Both parents are Chinese natives.

Deportation case

According to records with the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, Chen lost a 2012 appeal in an effort to avoid deportation. A New York City law firm represented Chen in the case. She asked the Sixth Circuit to review the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals upholding an immigration judge's ruling.

According to the appeals court ruling:

In 2009, Chen had applied for asylum "based on her religion, political opinion and membership in a particular social group, alleging that she was a practitioner of Falun Gong (a Chinese spiritual practice) who had suffered persecution by the Chinese government," according to court records. However, an immigration judge "determined that Chen was not credible based in part on inconsistencies between her testimony, written submissions and proffered supporting evidence."

Chen had testified that, "after she fled China, her brother was arrested because of her practice of Falun Gong and that authorities had indicated they would release him if she returned to China, but in her asylum application she did not list her brother as family or indicate that he had been arrested, despite the fact that the application specifically requests such information."

Court records also cite Chen's testimony that her mother had visited her while she was detained in an education camp for one month. There was also inconsistent testimony about Chen saying she owed her aunt $20,000 for a loan to pay a person who smuggled Chen into the U.S.

The immigration judge had found Chen's attempts to explain inconsistencies in her testimony to be inadequate, according to court records. The Board of Immigration Appeals determined that Chen had "failed to overcome her lack of credibility with reasonably available corroborating evidence."

Chen lost her appeals in the case and apparently never returned to China, despite the immigration judge's order.

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315

and ed.balint@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @ebalintREP

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